Thanks to Larry Hermo, Linfield gets national attention from ABC-TV ‘Good Morning America’

(This posted 7/22/2016)

New York City.

Some people have never been there. Linfielder Larry Hermo, Class of 1959, has visited it eight times.

His eighth visit was in late June 2016, with his wife, Sharon; granddaughter, Megan Hermo, and Megan’s friend Santi Hart, both Milwaukie, Ore., High School students.

Back-to-back visit highlights for the four of them were Thursday, June 30, involving national television and the New York Yankees.

They got up early that Thursday morning and arrived at 5:30 at the ABC-TV “Good Morning America” outside set in New York’s Times Square. The show went on the air at 7 in the morning.

They were at the front of a crowd of people and appeared during the program’s national broadcast.

This photo, taken from the broadcast, shows Larry proudly wearing a Linfield shirt. Then, left to right, next to Larry, are Sharon, Santi and Megan, all are wearing New York Yankee shirts.

After they left the TV set, they made their way to Yankee Stadium to watch the Texas Rangers play the NY Yankees is a game which started at 1:05 p.m. Thursday. Yankees won, 2-1.

In his long tenure as head baseball coach at Rex Putnam High School in Milwaukie, Ore. one of Larry’s players was Linfielder Scott Brosius.

A member of Linfield Class of 2001, Brosius went on to play and star for Linfield, lettering in the 1985, 1986 and 1987 seasons.

After a Major League playing career with the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees, Brosius coached baseball at Linfield and, as head coach, led the Wildcats to the 2013 NCAAD3 national championship.

At Yankee Stadium, Larry saw Brosius play for the Yankees in the 2000 and 2001 World Series.

In a Series game played in 2001, Larry watched Brosius come to bat with a Yankee on base. Brosius hit a home run with two out in the bottom of the ninth. That tied the score. In the 11th inning, Brosius bunted to advance a runner and the Yankees won with a base hit.

POSTSCRIPTS

-In January 1999, after Brosius was named MVP of the 1998 World Series, Putnam High honored Larry and Brosius with an open house. During it, uniform #1 (Larry) and #3 (Brosius) were retired. Jerseys #1 and #3 are on display in a Putnam showcase.

-An “ABC-TV Good Morning America” camera operator asked Larry about Linfield football. Larry responded with info about “The Streak.” The camera operator was “totally impressed,” said Larry.

-Megan is the daughter of Brad and Debra Hermo, son and daughter-in-law of the Hermos. Like Brosius, Brad played at Linfield for Coach Scott Carnahan. Brad lettered in the 1983-1984-1985 and 1986 seasons. Thus, Brad was a Linfield baseball teammate of Brosius for two seasons.

-Brosius’ last season playing Major League baseball was 2001.

Larry Ward, former Linfield Wildcats radio ‘voice,’ member of two halls of fame

Larry Ward, former Linfield Wildcats radio ‘voice,’ member of two halls of fames

Originally posted 5/11/2016. Updated 7/1/2016

Larry Ward, a former radio play-by-play “voice” of Linfield College Wildcats football and men’s basketball is a two time Hall of Famer.

In 2005, he became a member of the Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame.

He was inducted into the Southern (professional baseball) League in conjunction with the league’s 2016 all-star game in Pearl, Miss.

The induction of Ward – the first broadcaster in this “hall” -- took place June 20, 2016, in the Jackson, Miss., Convention Complex during the “A Night with the Stars All-Star Gala” and at the game held in Pearl at Trustmark Park, home of the Class AA Mississippi Braves of the Southern League.

Lori Webb, Southern League president, presided at the events and Kyle Tait, “voice” of the M-Braves, made the presentation.

Long-time “voice” of the Class AA professional baseball Chattanooga, Tenn., Lookouts, Ward, as Wildcats' broadcaster, teamed with color commentator Dave Hansen, a member of the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame.

That was in 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977 on McMinnville radio station KMCM, which is now KLYC.

From Maupin (Wasco Co.), Ore., Ward’s broadcasting career started at KACI Radio, The Dalles.

In 1978, he was part-time play-by-play voice for the Portland Beavers of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League.

His long broadcasting career has included stops in Arizona, Florida and South Carolina. This (2016) is his 29th consecutive season calling Lookouts baseball. He’s the longest tenured broadcaster in the Southern League.

First broadcasting experience for Ward, a 1965 graduate of Wasco County Union High School in Maupin, Ore., was at KACI radio in The Dalles in the summer of 1970.

His initial time on the air was doing sports for a morning show. On weekends he was a disc jockey. During that summer he did live reports from the Wasco County Fair from the fairgrounds in Tygh Valley. He also did some news reports.

His job included selling on the air advertising spots. Once he left a business client in the middle of an ad sales presentation to cover a house fire. He phoned in a report on the fire to the radio station, went back to the client and made the sale.

The first radio play-by-play experience for Ward was broadcasting a Little League game in The Dalles. “That was such a great experience I decided that would be my radio career goal,” he said.

He joined KODL radio in The Dalles. While there a letter from KMCM came to the station that it had an opening for sports play-by-play broadcaster who would do college and high school games and also sell advertising. He interviewed for the job, was offered and accepted it and started in spring 1973.

When he did play-by-play for The Dalles High School games his color commentator was a grad of the high school. He wanted someone with Linfield connections to accompany him covering the Wildcats.

Ward said, “I believe it was Coach Ad Rutschman who put me in touch with Dave Hansen of Linfield. We probably met over coffee or lunch. I asked and Dave didn’t take long to agree to do it.

“Our first broadcast was the first regular season football game* (Linfield at Portland State) of the 1973 season. (Linfield won, 19-3.) I think the broadcast started a little bumpy, but it quickly became smooth and stayed that way all the years we worked Linfield football and basketball together.”

Hansen said he was always comfortable and it was always enjoyable as Ward’s broadcasting partner on KMCM. “He was very professional, and gave me lots of room to run. Larry was a gentle teacher to a neophyte, nicknamed me ‘the professor’ and was a great straight man for stuff I did.”

During his time at KMCM, in addition to covering Linfield and McMinnville High School football, he sold enough advertising to also broadcast some Linfield, George Fox and area high school basketball games.

“I did basketball in the Charlie Sitton era at McMinnville High. We even did some baseball. In my six years at KMCM we had a sports talk show, covered tennis, track meets, motocross, horse shows and the St. Paul Rodeo. Several times I was chosen to do football playoffs, basketball tournaments and baseball playoffs for the OSAA. Also, I served as master of ceremonies at various events,” said Ward.

He left Oregon in the winter of 1979 after becoming play-by-play “voice” of the Tucson Toros of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. 

*POSTSCRIPT

Linfield’s 1973 season started on Maxwell Field with a non-counting 21-0 Wildcat varsity beating alumni game. The regular season began Sat., Sept. 22, with Linfield winning 19-3 at Portland Civic Stadium over Portland State. A story about the game says, “Linfield’s five-platoon punting system kept Portland State buried in its own territory most of the evening as the Wildcats won an error-filled contest … played during intermittent showers on slippery Tartan Turf.”

PHOTOS

--Larry Ward (right) and Dave Hansen (left) broadcasting, for McMinnville’s KMCM-AM radio, a Linfield men's home basketball game in Riley Gym. Photo appeared (or was supposed to appear) in the 12/31/1975 McMinnville N-R/News-Register. Photo by McMinnville News-Register's Tom Ballard courtesy of the N-R.

--Larry Ward in his Chattanooga Lookouts radio broadcast booth. Photo appeared with story in 3/15/2016 The Dalles, Ore., Chronicle. Link to story:

http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2016/mar/15/swc-grad-gets-hall-fame-call

--Larry Ward at Southern League event during which he was inducted into the league’s hall of fame (photo credit to Mississippi Braves professional baseball team)

--Congratulations Larry Ward from the Chattanooga Lookouts website.